Part 38 of the "Global War'n'ing" series is about the suburban LA community of Porter Ranch and the gas leak accident. I wanted to record it in this journal and series because of how critical it is, I been following this for awhile and curious how they would go about fixing this screw up, and how long it may take. I wanted to open the posting with a video from Democracy Now with Erin Brockovich and Porter Ranch resident David Balen, this is only a week ago, before Gov. Brown of California even declared the recent "state of emergency" ... and frankly if it werent for folks like Erin Brockovich and others climbing all over this in what little media coverage they got, there may not even have been a state of emergency declared yet. Part of the posting's title was inspired by the heavy mainstream media coverage of the recapture of "El Chapo", because I watch mainstream primetime news on the tele, and they have gave more coverage to El Chapo and these yap- yap sex- bitch fights between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and their run for President, than this critical incident in the LA area. But some video and news links below, I also added an interview with Attorney and Environmental Activist Bobby Kennedy, Jr. ... then I will add my part to it after.
Erin Brockovich: California Methane Gas Leak is Worst U.S. Environmental Disaster Since BP Oil Spill ... Thanx to DEMOCRACY NOW
***** LOS ANGELES TIMES/ L.A.NOW: Officials and gas company agree on plan to burn off some methane afflicting Porter Ranch ... (newsread/ links)
***** CNN: Porter Ranch gas leak triggers state of emergency in California ... (newsread/ video)
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A Staggering Methane Leak Has Caused a State of Emergency in CA ... Thanx to THE BIG PICTURE RT
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***** PD/ RCJ: "GLOBAL WAR'N'ING" PART'S 37 THRU 1
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Thomas Hudson Pickering (aka "Ranch Chimp" & "Commie Tommie") with other half (wife) Rosalie Recto Vinas (Pickering)
Once again this whole thing is a result of taking a chance on not replacing some type of safety valve or whatever, this show's the extent of those who are so much caught up into saving that extra buck ... it's about basically being cheap. Only a couple dayz have passed since Gov. Brown declared the state of emergency ... which was necessary ... but as alwayz, took too long to do. Erin and David in the video that opened talk of the runaround the folks get ... and you have to expect that, for those who just say that these companies are not being transparent ... that's an understatement, many of these folks are just reckless and avoid every damn thing they can and manipulate the politics to the media. This is not just Porter Ranch, it's all over the country and globe right now, Porter Ranch is a good example of what is happening all over. These accidents should and will show everyone in time "why" we need strict oversight and regulations, and government agencies getting strict, because it's getting worse and worse. Can you imagine what some of these folks would do if they got their fantasy of no government, no EPA, no outside oversight, no regulations, etc, etc ... like any addict they would self destruct and take down everything around them in time. This extreme greed and penny pinching we see today is a chronic disease, that need's to be treated or eliminated. And this is over and over, as I mentioned in previous posting's in this series ... with all this new drilling for oil/ gas and mega investing into such ... is it really the wisest investment? ... look where the oil prices went now and how many are pulling back from producing more, or ya'll's Saudi friends who refuse to reduce their production in this time of a saturated market. Right before the barrel cost dropped, I was questioning in this series ... what would happen if it did and how much was wasted in over- confidence in the market/ investments, and over- spending in the industry ... when they go back up, they will go hog wild again, whatever makes the quickest buck is all that matters now to them too financially intoxicated to be able to distinguish a bad bet from a good one. They say they are only supplying the demand, there are more wayz to supply and change demand needs.
Right now we have folks drooling over the idea of the Artic region melting, just to tap into all they will find and extract under that frozen solid region that they have not been able to get to. That is why folks dont want to recognize global warming or would even spend millions to debate it over decades, it's only about making all the money you can and getting more investors to gamble into it. The thing that many are not looking at in their illness ... is the amounts of money they are having to shell out to fix what they break or fuck up, the lobbying expense and time to manipulate legislation to try to get someone else to pay for their fuck- up's ... while they are nickel and diming everything and being cheapskates pinching every damn penny, they look at that as smart economics. If folks in some poverty stricken area get hit or with low real estate values, that encourages more of the same because it's easy to buy your way out, what happens though when you start going further and screwing up the better neighbourhood's where we depend on that middle to upper middle income class to spend, invest, and are able to buy/ sell real estate for prime dollar? what about the banks and lenders? Look at this sector of the LA metro area, these are folks that pump the economy, what is going to happen to their home/ property values?, how about the local businesses/ companies?, what about the huge agriculture industry not far away? ... you can call it "trickle down economics", cause it's a sure downslope recipe for disaster. Even without calling for a halt to this drilling and related ... it would be smarter and wiser to spend a fraction of what you waste on the above and regulate yourselves more and spend what you can on making sure you have a cleaner and more efficient way to do things, instead of this cheap bargain basement mentality ... and you'll profit more and save headache after headache, lawsuit after lawsuit, unnecessary hearing's trying to explain yourselves in public to a Senate Committee, and having to explain to shareholders why they should have confidence in you and their investments.
We also need to have people voice more about criminal prosecution in these matter's, simply fining these folks and telling them to spend more to fix things dont cut it ... if we put some fire to their ass that they can feel for a change, that makes them think. We need to have more talk in these so called Presidential debates and a demand from the American public and environmental advocacy groups that they have to, many of these self- proclaimed grand figures that are running to be leader of our country, need to address what we can do more of to improve our energy needs and avoid some of this reckless behaviour ... I mean ... fuck the endless talk about Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq for a moment, and focus on our economy and energy needs, improvements and goals more ... do you think that they are concerned with our domestic issues when they campaign and have elections in those countries? ... of course not. When I talk about criminal prosecution, I really mean it ... for example, when people get catastrophically ill, you have deaths, severe damage to forest, agriculture, real estate, etc ... start indicting for criminal charges and trials more and carry out sentencing, just as you would on anyone who murders people or starts forest fires/ arson, destroying water reservoirs, etc ... there are plenty of prisons in the U.S. and many investors in the energy sector would know well, since many also invested in the privatized prisons. Everywhere in the country and globally you will see more and more of these accidents, neglect and reckless behaviour, until we crack down harder. And sooner or later people are going to demand more, because of the rate we are declining and the impact even on business ... so it wont just be poor people or tree- huggers ... in time, it will be a more economically diverse voice.
Word Out ....
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** RCJ/ THOMAS PICKERING: GOOGLE+ (video posts)
***** THE RESISTANCE/ PERIL'S OF THE POWER POSSE (inspiration for hope & change) ... to be viewed as a "profit- see", not a "prophecy".
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The people who live near disasters like this know all about "trickle down" -- they've been "trickled down" on so much that they must feel like they're living in a urinal. Certainly the people responsible will deploy their best lawyers to avoid paying much for the damage.
ReplyDeleteAs for what they would do if they got the completely deregulated environment they're aiming for, you can tell from looking at what happens in Third World countries where the government is too weak to regulate effectively (such as Bhopal).
We do win one sometimes. Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline doubtless prevented many future oil spills across the center of the country. But we're still far too dependent on oil and gas and vulnerable to their side effects. Never heard of any toxic leak from a solar panel.
Ohhhhh Yeah guy ... I was thinking "Bhopal"?? trying to figure out where I heard that ... man that was years ago, an awful Hell of a disaster ... I remember that now, that damn Union Carbide incident. Yeah, folks are getting pissed on, and hopefully more folks will get PISSED OFF.
ReplyDeleteYes, Obama rejected Keystone ... but you know they wont let that rest, especially that Republican Congress, probably that company in Canada will try to sue (remember, corporations are people today), and if they dont have the pipeline they will continue to move that crap by rail or somehow ... but YES ... I'm glad he bucked that. Plus it would have not created a damn thing as far as jobs and only flood the market more ... it's a shitty grade anywayz (the refining and conversion process is expensive and lenghty) ... kind of like when they made a buck and whole industry off of leftover chick wings ... no one wanted the wings of a chicken except poor and hungry folks, then someone (I believe in Buffalo) came up with an idea of how to sell millions of them to folks as a specialty item and have them waiting in line for them (I know that's a Hell of a comparison ... but my brain is in left field) ... some folks can sell anything, if they can figure out a way to make a buck off pigeon shit, they will go for it.
The funny thing about all this, since you spoke of solar panels ... is many of these same folks into fossil energy/ fuel investing are going to be first in line to to go into alternative energies in the near future, even the solar is getting way more efficient, some fossil energy companies are trying to suppress the use of it even ... new wayz are coming up to now store it's energy in large mass as well. Look at the hydro power as another example of Lucid Energy in your city of Portland and what they are doing ... these energy ideas are popping up all over the globe, it's the future, anyway you slice it, and these fossil fuel folks know it ... they are just going for the fast buck, and willing to destroy anything in their path to get it, because they know deep down the dayz are numbered.